Mendocino Farms is here at last
You’d think a restaurant group with a name like Mendocino Farms would have roots on the North Coast and restaurants throughout Northern California.
But it was the philosophy that NorCal expats Ellen Chen and Mario Del Pero were embracing when this married couple opened their first “sandwich market” in 2005 in downtown Los Angeles. Their Mendocino Farms partners with California farmers and culinary artisans to create seasonal, healthy sandwiches and salads that have become wildly popular in SoCal.
Now, 12 years and 16 locations later, the company is moving into NorCal with its Mendocino mindset. The first NorCal location opened Friday at the Pruneyard in Campbell, and will be followed by a location at San Jose’s Santana Row. The company’s 2018 expansion will include San Mateo and San Francisco eateries.
Bay Area newbie diners will find a lot of creativity stuffed between slices of artisanal bread at Mendo. A few highlights:
• Autumn in a Sandwich layers warm carved turkey, house-made kale/mushroom/ turkey sausage stuffing and an ancho chile-spiked cranberry chutney on cranberry walnutwheat bread.
• Millennials who have given up on saving for a house in Silicon Valley and are indulging in the stereotypical avocado toast instead can check out the Vegan Goddess version featuring wild rice, hemp seed, sprouts and pickled radishes.
• The Rescued Vegetable Burger is a doubly virtuous choice because it’s made with veggies that come from Pressed Juicery. Post-pressing, they are turned into a veggie pulp patty and topped with spicy tofu cheese, a beet-based Thousand Island and more veggies on a plant-based brioche bun.
• Meaty choices abound too, with sandwiches made from Mary’s free-range chicken, Creminelli’s nitrate-free cured meats and Creekstone Farms steak.